New Orleans has only one supermarket for every 350,000 residents, and they are often in locations that are more than a mile from where low-income residents live, writes Rosa Ramirez.
Ramirez, a student journalist at the New York Times Student Journalism Institute, got much of her information from a study by a group called SocialCompact. The study looked at examined 73 New Orleans neighborhoods, and "nearly 40 of those neighborhoods didn't have a supermarket," reports Ramirez:
"Researchers have said the lack of vegetables, dairy and other fresh
foods in neighborhood stores contributes to a poor diet, obesity and
diet-related diseases. Louisiana ranks fifth in the nation for the
percentage of obese residents and has the highest rate in the country of
deaths from diabetes."
A supermarket analyst interviewed by Ramirez said that New Orleans is "a very understored market."
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